Comedian John May and Tim Edwards' inspiring film wins at Beverly Hills Film Festival

An inspiring film featuring comedian John May and Tim Edwards, whose daughter Elle was murdered in a Wirral pub shooting, has won a major prize at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

The Two of Us, which follows their walk from Lands End to John O’Groats as part of a campaign to end gun and knife crime, was awarded Best Documentary at the prestigious festival in the heart of Hollywood.

Beverly Hills Film Festival is one of the most influential film festivals in the world, so John admits they were just over the moon to be nominated.

The pair headed to the home of the movie industry along with The Two of Us director Owen Ward. But they had so little idea they’d come away with an award, they only bought two tickets to the ceremony to save money – and John was actually at the bar when the winner was announced!

John said:

“We were up for a few categories, like international film and best first-time director, and we didn’t win those, and I honestly, there were about 25 films up for Best Documentary so I thought we didn’t have a chance with that one.

“I was just in my tuxedo and my cowboy hat, embracing the whole experience and chatting to people by the bar when someone said to me ‘they’re calling your name’ and we’d won. I couldn’t believe it.

“Me and Tim got on the stage, I gave a speech and then Tim gave one about Elle and we got a standing ovation. We had the place up on its feet and it was so surreal.

“Some people in the room had seen the film but probably the majority hadn’t because there are so many films up for awards. I think our speeches were just so powerful it really resonated with people.”

The Two of Us was made on a tiny budget compared to most films and, says John, if it wasn’t for the support of Liverpool audiences they’d never have been able to enter film festivals, let alone win.

He explained:

“We had screenings at the Plaza in Crosby to raise money to enter festivals like the Raindance which is where the film had its world premiere. Then screenings at Woolton Cinema paid for us to go to America, so the people of the city have really come out and helped us and got behind this film.

“Me and Owen are two lads, working from a little office in Kirkdale. We got to Raindance Film Festival which is the biggest in the UK, and then to get it to Beverly Hills, be in the Chinese Theatre and actually win, was more than we’d ever imagined,

“We’ve just maximized on everything we’ve done and to be able to represent Liverpool over there was amazing.”

John says he hopes their win is the start of even bigger things for The Two of Us, which has also been selected for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in Australia in July.

“It’s got a global appeal, and universal themes around friendship, loss and mental health struggles but it’s funny too because Owen got that balance, he’s the unsung hero of this.

“I think we’ve created a beast and now hopefully we’ve given it enough gravitas through these awards for a distributor to come along and go ‘right, if it’s getting this response internationally, we’ll pick it up.’ That’s our goal.”

Find out more about The Two of Us here.

Find out more about the incredible productions taking place in Liverpool here.

Find out what’s good up North on our new platform, The Northern Guide.